For centuries, female composers have been one step behind their male counterparts despite being some of the most influential figures in artistic history.
It’s time “to show to the world the foolish error of men who so greatly believe themselves to be the masters of high intellectual gifts that they cannot…be equally common among women,” according to composer Maddalena Casulana.
Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179): Known as one of The Women Who Broke Classical Music’s Glass Ceiling by BBC Music Magazine, Hildegard composed nearly 80 works, including Ordo Virtutum, and wrote for convents and monasteries with boldness and ecstaticism.
She said, “I composed and chanted plainsong in praise of God and the saints, even though I had never studied either musical notation or singing.”
Francesca Caccini (1587 – 1640): Often assumed to be her father’s, Francesca’s songs are found in recorded collections of Italian Baroque. Known as ‘La Cecchina’, she’s thought to be the first Italian woman to have a successfully staged opera, the comedy-ballet La liberazione di Ruggiero.
Aside from composing, she sang at Henry IV’s wedding to Maria de’ Medici, and her carnival entertainment, La Stiava, led to a position at court. In total, she composed 32 songs and 16 stage works, making her the highest paid court musician of the time.
Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1739 – 1807): Born a German princess, Anna transformed her court into an influential cultural center, attracting visiting writers and dramatists.
Among her surviving compositions are a symphony for two oboes, flutes, violins and double bass; an oratorio; the opera Erwin und Elmire; and a divertimento for piano, clarinet, viola, and cello.
Louise Farrenc (1804 – 1875): Lousie’s 18 available recordings prove that she’s France’s first lady composer of the 19th Century. She studied piano and composition before embarking on a career in composition and performance.
Her marriage to Aristide Farrenc resulted in the publication of her works, including several symphonies. Her most popular pieces are two piano quintets, the Piano Trio with clarinet and flute, the Wind Sextet, and the Nonet.
Fanny Mendelssohn (1805 – 1847): Carl Friedrich Zelter wrote that Fanny “could give you something of Sebastian Bach. This child is really something special.” Even Queen Victoria made the mistake of ascribing her favorite Mendelssohn song, Italien, to Fanny’s brother Felix, only to discover it was by his sister.
While her father was tolerant and her brother felt that “she is too much all that a woman ought to be for this,” Fanny penned 460 pieces, including the Piano Trio in D, Quartet in E flat, a Piano Sonata in G minor, and Das Jahr.
Cécile Chaminade (1857 – 1944): Cécile published more than 400 compositions, including a Flute Concerto. Her international following also included Queen Victoria, and her works were compared to Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt.
She studied at the Conservatoire de Paris before embarking as a virtuoso pianist. After 1890, she became a full-time composer.
When she visited the United States in 1908, she was criticized by the press. Her lighter, sweeter melodies were ‘overly-feminine’, while her larger-scale, more developmental music was ridiculed for attempting to have the style of a man.
Ethel Smyth (1858 – 1944): Ethel refused to abide by Victorian conventions. She defied her father by studying composition at Germany’s Leipzig Conservatory then privately with Heinrich von Herzogenberg.
She composed ambitious, large-scale forms, including the Double Concerto for horn and violin, the Mass in D, and six operas, including Der Wald, The Wreckers, and The Boatswain’s Mate.
Florence Price (1887 – 1953): As an African-American female, Florence overcame dual prejudice. Despite growing recognition, most of her 300 compositions aren’t published. She wrote large-scale orchestral music with spirituals, African-American dance rhythms, jazz and classical idioms.
In 1923, Florence came to national fame when her Symphony in E Minor won the Wanamaker Competition and premiered a decade later by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble at the time peopled entirely by white men. This marked the first time an African-American woman had orchestral music performed by a major American orchestra.
Lili Boulanger (1893 – 1918): This French composer made history when, at 19 years old, she became the first woman to win the Conservatoire de Paris’ Prix de Rome with her cantata Faust et Hélène. (Her sister Nadia also entered, winning second prize.)
She earned a trip to the Villa Medici in Italy and won a contract with music publishers Casa Ricordi. Displaying smart originality, her work included Vielle prière bouddhique, Psalm XXIV, Clarières dans le ciel, and La princesse Maleine.
English composer Rebecca Clarke said it best, “Though I had no illusions whatever about the value of my work, I was flooded with a wonderful feeling of potential power.” And powerful are female composers.
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